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| Renault's sexist advert drives me absolutely mad | Renault's sexist advert drives me absolutely mad |
| (3 days later) | |
| What do you look for when you're buying a car? Value for money? Good mileage per gallon? A competitive engine spec and a low emissions rate? Possibly all of the above. What you probably don't look for as standard is a button on the dashboard that, when you press it, takes you right back to the sexual objectification of the 1970s. | What do you look for when you're buying a car? Value for money? Good mileage per gallon? A competitive engine spec and a low emissions rate? Possibly all of the above. What you probably don't look for as standard is a button on the dashboard that, when you press it, takes you right back to the sexual objectification of the 1970s. |
| The marketers of Renault Clio, it seems, think rather differently. Last week, a viral advert promoting the car was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority after a complaint that it objectified women. The YouTube clip depicts an unsuspecting man taking a test drive. At one point, the driver is encouraged by the car salesman to press a throbbing red "va va voom" button, handily situated just above the air conditioning. | The marketers of Renault Clio, it seems, think rather differently. Last week, a viral advert promoting the car was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority after a complaint that it objectified women. The YouTube clip depicts an unsuspecting man taking a test drive. At one point, the driver is encouraged by the car salesman to press a throbbing red "va va voom" button, handily situated just above the air conditioning. |
| The button causes a painted backdrop of Paris to fall in front of the windscreen. Passers-by start talking about baguettes and black coffee. Then, out of nowhere, the car is surrounded by scantily clad female dancers in frilly underwear and black stockings. The camera zooms in on pert bottoms and plump breasts jiggling suggestively in slow-mo. The driver's jaw drops. He says: "Crikey", blows his cheeks out and snorts with excited laughter while sitting back to enjoy the show. | The button causes a painted backdrop of Paris to fall in front of the windscreen. Passers-by start talking about baguettes and black coffee. Then, out of nowhere, the car is surrounded by scantily clad female dancers in frilly underwear and black stockings. The camera zooms in on pert bottoms and plump breasts jiggling suggestively in slow-mo. The driver's jaw drops. He says: "Crikey", blows his cheeks out and snorts with excited laughter while sitting back to enjoy the show. |
| Renault denied the ad was sexist, insisting it had been "a humorous parody". As proof of its conscience, it quickly produced a similar ad featuring semi-naked men, thereby completely misunderstanding the entire concept of sexism [see footnote]. | |
| Here's a handy recap: men still hold a disproportionately high number of powerful positions in politics and business, so sexism is an institutional problem. The world remains fundamentally unequal for women. That's why it's not particularly "humorous" or "fun" to portray them as erotic props to help you sell things. That's why you need to think a bit harder about how you represent women in advertising and that's why you should choose camera angles that show their heads as well as their breasts. Not a lot to ask. | Here's a handy recap: men still hold a disproportionately high number of powerful positions in politics and business, so sexism is an institutional problem. The world remains fundamentally unequal for women. That's why it's not particularly "humorous" or "fun" to portray them as erotic props to help you sell things. That's why you need to think a bit harder about how you represent women in advertising and that's why you should choose camera angles that show their heads as well as their breasts. Not a lot to ask. |
| Trying to flog a car with half-dressed men is not proof of right-on egalitarianism, any more than if the producers of The Black and White Minstrel Show had decided to tackle racism by screening a one-off special featuring black men with white faces. | Trying to flog a car with half-dressed men is not proof of right-on egalitarianism, any more than if the producers of The Black and White Minstrel Show had decided to tackle racism by screening a one-off special featuring black men with white faces. |
| I could, perhaps, have chosen to ignore the stupidity of the Renault advert (hardly anyone saw it, after all, and there was only one complaint to the ASA) [see footnote]. But then Blurred Lines, a feelgood pop song with a catchy bassline by American R&B singer Robin Thicke, climbed back up to No 1 in the UK charts. This meant that we were all treated, yet again, to Thicke's eye-poppingly misogynist video, which features women in a state of undress being handled like fleshy mannequins: their hair is played with, their bottoms are slapped, they are ordered to "get up, get down" and they mutely do as they're told. None of them speaks. | |
| Thicke (surely one of the best examples of nominative determinism since Rich Ricci became the head of investment banking at Barclays) wanders around fully dressed inspecting the goods. In one scene, a pouting blonde lights his cigarette. Thicke inhales, then blows smoke in her face so that she coughs. If Charles Saatchi had done that to Nigella Lawson at a restaurant table, some people would see it as abuse. | Thicke (surely one of the best examples of nominative determinism since Rich Ricci became the head of investment banking at Barclays) wanders around fully dressed inspecting the goods. In one scene, a pouting blonde lights his cigarette. Thicke inhales, then blows smoke in her face so that she coughs. If Charles Saatchi had done that to Nigella Lawson at a restaurant table, some people would see it as abuse. |
| The lyrics to Blurred Lines are directed to an anonymous "good girl" and include the promise to "give you something big enough to tear your ass in two" and "[to] smack that ass and pull your hair for you". What a guy. | The lyrics to Blurred Lines are directed to an anonymous "good girl" and include the promise to "give you something big enough to tear your ass in two" and "[to] smack that ass and pull your hair for you". What a guy. |
| It's not that I lack a sense of humour. It's not that I don't think women shouldn't be allowed to celebrate their own sexuality or subvert social expectations. You can be a feminist who wears lipstick. But it feels like we've tipped past the point of self-awareness. The Renault ad and the Robin Thicke video are not ironic or edgy. They're demeaning – and if this is "va va voom", then, frankly, I'd rather do without. | It's not that I lack a sense of humour. It's not that I don't think women shouldn't be allowed to celebrate their own sexuality or subvert social expectations. You can be a feminist who wears lipstick. But it feels like we've tipped past the point of self-awareness. The Renault ad and the Robin Thicke video are not ironic or edgy. They're demeaning – and if this is "va va voom", then, frankly, I'd rather do without. |
| Copy Margaret Rhodes and show some birth control | Copy Margaret Rhodes and show some birth control |
| My girl crush of the week comes quite straightforwardly in the splendid form of 88-year-old Margaret Rhodes. The Queen's first cousin was recently asked by an American news station whether she was excited about the imminent arrival of a new heir to the throne. | My girl crush of the week comes quite straightforwardly in the splendid form of 88-year-old Margaret Rhodes. The Queen's first cousin was recently asked by an American news station whether she was excited about the imminent arrival of a new heir to the throne. |
| "Not terribly," she replied. Warming to her theme, she pointed out with admirable precision that, "Well, you know, everybody has babies. And it's lovely, but I don't get wildly excited about it." | "Not terribly," she replied. Warming to her theme, she pointed out with admirable precision that, "Well, you know, everybody has babies. And it's lovely, but I don't get wildly excited about it." |
| Having lived through nine decades of so many royal births, deaths, marriages, divorces and toe-suckings, it is quite clearly going to take more than the miracle of new life to stir Mrs Rhodes's interest. | Having lived through nine decades of so many royal births, deaths, marriages, divorces and toe-suckings, it is quite clearly going to take more than the miracle of new life to stir Mrs Rhodes's interest. |
| When it was pointed out to her that the baby would one day be king or queen and that the birth would be a fairly historic event, Mrs Rhodes replied: "Yes, all right. I'm prepared to be excited." | When it was pointed out to her that the baby would one day be king or queen and that the birth would be a fairly historic event, Mrs Rhodes replied: "Yes, all right. I'm prepared to be excited." |
| It was rather refreshing, in the midst of all the hype surrounding the Duchess of Cambridge's pregnancy, to have some sang-froid injected into proceedings. And I do feel that "prepared to be excited" is an eminently sensible state of mind when it comes to other people's babies. | It was rather refreshing, in the midst of all the hype surrounding the Duchess of Cambridge's pregnancy, to have some sang-froid injected into proceedings. And I do feel that "prepared to be excited" is an eminently sensible state of mind when it comes to other people's babies. |
| Now that so many parents upload cutesy pictures of their newborn offspring online, I wonder if there should be a Facebook option for people such as Mrs Rhodes who don't want to over-commit emotionally. | Now that so many parents upload cutesy pictures of their newborn offspring online, I wonder if there should be a Facebook option for people such as Mrs Rhodes who don't want to over-commit emotionally. |
| Instead of the breathless ubiquity of the "Like" thumbs-up, we could introduce the "Prepared To Be Excited" button and display it alongside a stiff-upper lip emoticon. | Instead of the breathless ubiquity of the "Like" thumbs-up, we could introduce the "Prepared To Be Excited" button and display it alongside a stiff-upper lip emoticon. |
| The real problem with this weather is that it's so noisy | The real problem with this weather is that it's so noisy |
| It was fairly exciting when we reached "level 3" of the heatwave. It made me feel we'd all been playing a giant computer game, collecting Super Mushrooms and launching fireballs at our enemies until we were rewarded with the ultimate prize of blazing temperatures and a high pollen count. | It was fairly exciting when we reached "level 3" of the heatwave. It made me feel we'd all been playing a giant computer game, collecting Super Mushrooms and launching fireballs at our enemies until we were rewarded with the ultimate prize of blazing temperatures and a high pollen count. |
| But now that we're all working and sleeping with the windows open, muttering about Argos running out of fans, everything seems to have got considerably noisier. | But now that we're all working and sleeping with the windows open, muttering about Argos running out of fans, everything seems to have got considerably noisier. |
| Living in a city as I do, eardrums are under constant assault. I wake up to the screams of other people's children splashing in paddling pools. I make breakfast accompanied by the screech of sirens as paramedics rush to treat another case of heat exhaustion. I sit at my desk to the soundtrack of clattering scaffolding being erected by builders whose radio is tuned constantly to Magic FM. And I live below the Heathrow flight path, so any time I venture out into the garden, all the other sounds will be obliterated by the roar of an overhead jet engine. | Living in a city as I do, eardrums are under constant assault. I wake up to the screams of other people's children splashing in paddling pools. I make breakfast accompanied by the screech of sirens as paramedics rush to treat another case of heat exhaustion. I sit at my desk to the soundtrack of clattering scaffolding being erected by builders whose radio is tuned constantly to Magic FM. And I live below the Heathrow flight path, so any time I venture out into the garden, all the other sounds will be obliterated by the roar of an overhead jet engine. |
| We get used to noise. But in modern life, there is so much more of it. Our gadgetry has increased the volume of daily life – from the teenager playing a tinny rendition of Justin Bieber on her smartphone to the announcements on public transport. | We get used to noise. But in modern life, there is so much more of it. Our gadgetry has increased the volume of daily life – from the teenager playing a tinny rendition of Justin Bieber on her smartphone to the announcements on public transport. |
| A study last week found that "super-fast" hand-dryers had the same impact on the human ear as a road drill at close range. | A study last week found that "super-fast" hand-dryers had the same impact on the human ear as a road drill at close range. |
| I've always hated those hand-dryers, with their smug ergonomic design and their patronising instructions for use ("Move hand up and down" – no, really?). They are the ultimate modern nonsense: a solution for a problem that doesn't exist. We already have an invention that can dry hands quickly, effectively and – best of all – silently. It's called a towel. | I've always hated those hand-dryers, with their smug ergonomic design and their patronising instructions for use ("Move hand up and down" – no, really?). They are the ultimate modern nonsense: a solution for a problem that doesn't exist. We already have an invention that can dry hands quickly, effectively and – best of all – silently. It's called a towel. |
| • This footnote was appended on 23 July 2013: Renault has asked us to make clear that both videos were made and released simultaneously, and that the combined viewing figures for both videos is 5 million, rather than "hardly anyone". |